Shoemaking



Oct. 22, 1946, H s. MCMURRAY 2,409,880

SHOEMAKING.

Filed, Dec. 9 1944 ations.

Patented Oct. 22, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHOEMAKING Harry G. McMurray, Wakefield, Mass.

Application December 9, 1944, Serial No. 567,403

6 Claims.

1 This invention comprises an improved process of manufacturing a safety shoe having greater strength and better shoe making characteristics than have been found heretofore in shoes of this type, by a series of steps which facilitate the shoe making operations in general and avoid difiiculties which have been heretofore encountered in manufacturing shoes of this special type. For example, the welt sewer has heretofore experienced a great deal of difficulty in breaking needles by striking the steel box toe. By the process of my invention this difficulty is substantially if not entirely avoided.

The strength of the steel box toe depends largelyupon its having an adequate tie or strut in the shoe bottom between its curved sides. Heretofore the provision of a tie has caused objectionable bulk in the shoe bottom, interfering to some extent with the flexing of the shoe and making difficult the necessary shoemaking oper- These difficulties are avoided in accordance with the present invention by formin a metal box toe with a thin sheet steel tie, or by providing it with prongs which may be punched into a portion of the insole which thus becomes a tie for the box.

I employ an insole comprising two sections which may be separately formed and then united. The inner section of the insole, that is to say, the section underlying the wearers foot, is a smooth flat sole, 1 /2 to 2 irons in thickness. The outer section of the insole presents a welt sewing rib and may be of any well-known commercial construction, either channeled and reinforced with gem duck, or having a textile sewing rib attached thereto. In outline the ribbed insole section is longer at the toe than the flat insole section by an amount slightly greater than the thickness of the metal box toe. The tip of the ribbed insole section is separable from the smooth section and may be severed and removed from the body of the ribbed section on a transverse line corresponding substantially with the rear straight edge of the metal box toe. The two insole sections are united rearwardly of the tip line preferably by being secured together in registered superposed position either by cement or by stitching along one or both sides of the composite insole. This leaves the unsevered end of the smooth inner insole section projecting beyond the severed end of the outer ribbed insole section.

The composite insole thus formed is now tacked to the last bottom. in the conventional manner exceptthat a' tack may be inserted through the projecting end of the inner insole section; The lined upper is then assembled on the last, pulled over, staple side lasted, and heel lasted, all in the conventional manner and exactly as if no metal box toe were to be employed.

After the heel lasting operation, the pulling over tacks at the tip of the shoe are removed thus releasing the lined upper so that it may be pulled back to expose the tip of the last with the smooth insole section on the bottom thereon. The operator may now conveniently place the metal box toe in position upon the toe of the last so that it encloses the toe portion of the smooth insole section with its transverse tie bar lying flat on the outer surface thereof. The insole tack is now removed from the projecting end. of the insole and the severed portion of the ribbed insole is restored to its original place and tacked or cemented permanently in place. From the foregoing explanation it will be seen that the base contour of the metal box toe lies within the contour of the projecting toe portion of the ribbed insole section and that the transverse tie bar is covered and concealed thereby, being now located between the two insole sections which have been separated up to this stage of the shoemaking process.

The toe of the upper may be now turned back and wiped in on a bed lasting machine, thus completing the toe lasting operation exactly as it is ordinarily carried out in the manufacture of any welt shoe. The welting operation may now be carried out without any danger whatever of the needle striking the metal of the .box toe since no part of the rib or of the ribbed insole is in any way obstructed by the metal of the box toe. The shoe may now be completed by the conventional bottoming and finishing steps.

The box toe herein shown is preferably drawn to shape from sheet steel and is thus particularly light, strong and of little bulk A.tie bar may be welded or otherwise attached between the rear corners of the box toe dome, or the box toe may be formed with a solid bottom and then the center portion thereof removed by punch- A modification of the box toe consists in forming spurs or prongs at the two rear corners thereof which, after the box has been positioned, may be driven through the inner insole section and clenched on the reinforced surface thereof. These spurs thus unite the insole section to the box toe in such a manner that the insole itself forms a tie member. The prongs may be clenched; down on .the outer. surfaceof thezinsole where they are eventually covered by the bottom filler.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred manner in which it may be carried out, selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of the composite insole showing the tip portion of the ribbed section displaced,

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view in perspective showing the upper in pulled over condition on the last,

Fig. 3 is a view in perspective of a metal box toe,

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view in perspective showing the metal box toe in place upon the last,

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view in longitudinal section of the toe portion of the lasted shoe,

Fig. 6 is a corresponding fragmentary view in perspective, and

Fig, 7 is a view in perspective of a metal box toe of modified construction, I

The first step in carrying out the process of my invention in the manner herein illustrated consists in preparing I a composite insole of the type shown in Fig. 1. As herein shown, but not necessarily, this includes a full length inner section I which may be of leather or any other suitable insole material to be located next to the foot of the wearer and is smooth on both surfaces. To the inner section IIJ-is fitted or formed an outer section II having the usual welt sewing rib I2 and herein shown as reinforced by a layer of gem duck I3. The tip I4 of the outer ection is severed and remains temporarily unattached to the in-- her section II) as indicated in Fig. 1. The ribbed section coincides in contour with the inner section It except that when combined with its tip I4 it is somewhatlor ger than the inner section, as suggested by the dash line in- Fig. 1. It may be noted at this point that the tip of the inner section I9" is to be enclosed within the metal box toe and that the inner section is made shorter than the complete ribbed section to compensate for this thickness and to bring the tip surface of the metal box toe into registration with theend of the ribbed tip section.

The composite insole shown in Fig. 1 is now tacked to a last I inthe usual manner, the tip I4 being temporarily removed, and the upper H is pulled over and tacked in accordance with the usual shoemakingoperations. It will be noted from Fig. 2 that the tip portion of the smooth inner section In is exposed at this; stage of the process as already explained.

The pulling over tacks are now removed, the upper turned back from the toe of the last, and the metal box toe may now be placed upon' the toe of the lastso as tcv enclose the tip end of the inner section ll! of the insole as suggested in Fig. 4. .If, the upper is: lined, the lining, I8 may be wiped in over the insole section I0 and so enclosed between the metal box toe and the insole.

.In Fig. 3is. shown a metal box toe of sheet steel comprising a dome-shaped portion I9 having a flat base in which is included a peripheral flange vZll and a transverse tie strip 2|. When this box toe ispla'ced upon the toe of the last, the flange 20 and the tie strip or bar 2| lie flat upon the insole section I0, or the over-wiped lining I8 if a lining is present, The tie strip or bar I division line separating the main portion of the ribbed section from its tip I4. If desired, the tie strip or bar may register with the cut off end of the main ribbed section, but ordinarily it will be convenient to provide a clearance of T to of an inch at this point. It is customary to employ sheet steel approximately .050-.040 inch in thickness as material for the box toe.

After the metal box toe has been placed firmly in position upon the toe of the last as shown in Fig. 4, the tip I4 of the ribbed section is replaced and secured by a tack I6 so that it completes the outline of the ribbed section and covers the metal box toe beneath it. Theupper Il may now be wiped into place in a bed lasting machine or the toe lasting operation effected in any desired manner, the upper being brought to the rib I2 and secured in place, for example, by staples or anchor tacks and toe wire as shown in Fig. 6. When the tip I4 is replaced it will be understood that its outer peripheral contour coincides at the tip with the peripheral contour of the metal box toe, the latter being gau ed in this position by the short tip of the smooth inner section II] of the insole.

The shoe may now be completed by the conventional shoemaking operations exactly as if it contained no metal box toe. The thickness of the enclosed rnetal is approximately the same a as that of heavy box toe material used in Work shoes and its presence is no more conspicuous in the tip of the finished shoe. The upper I! may be sewn with the welt to the rib I2 and the outsole layed and stitched if the shoe is to be a welt shoe. McKay or Comp-o shoes may be manufactured in general as above described and in those cases the rib of the outer insole section will be eliminated. The essential characteristic of my improvement is the employment of a composite insole with a displaceable tip portion and any of the standard shoemaking processes may be carried out in this manner without being otherwise modified from conventional procedure.

In Fig. 7 is shown a modified construction of a 1 metal box toein which spurs are substituted for the tie strip 2| of the box toe shown in'Fig. 3. The box toe includes a dome-shaped portion 22 having a peripheral base flange 23 terminating at each end in a projecting spur 24; This box toe may be placed upon the toe of the last as suggested in Fig. 4 and then, when the tip I4 is reestablished in position, the spurs 24 may be driven through the tip and clenched upon its outer reinforced face. In this instance the portion of the ti I4 included between the spurs 24 serves to tie together the sides of the metal box toe and to that extent supplies the function of the tiestrip or bar 2| of the metal box toe shown in Fig. 3. 1

It will be seen that I have thus made available a new and improved process of making work shoes or other shoes having'incorp'orate'd therein the safety feature of a metal box toe, accurately placed and securely incorporated in the shoe structure,.a;ll without requiring shoemaking operations' which in any way interfere with the conventional stock fitting or making processes now conventionally followed.

Having thus disclosed my invention and de--' scribed in detail a preferred embodiment thereof,

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. The process of shoem'aking including the steps of pulling an upper over, a last having a short insole section thereon; turning back-the" toe end of the upper, placing a metal box toe with a fiat tie between its sides upon the toe of the last with the toe end of the insole section enclosed therein and beneath the said tie, and then lasting the upper to a longer insole section superposed upon the first mentioned short section.

2. The process of shoemaking including the steps of placing a metal box toe with a flat tie beneath its sides on the toe of a last havin thereon a short insole section, the front wall of said box toe extending forwardly beyond said insole section, then superposing upon the base of the box toe and its said flat tie an insole section of such length as to register with the said wall of the box toe, and lasting an upper to said superposed insole section.

3. The process of shoemaking including the steps of covering the forward end of a last and an insole section thereon by a metal box toe having a flat tie between its sides, then covering the bottom of the box toe and its tie by a longer insole section, and lasting the upper thereto.

4. The process of shoemaking including the steps of tacking to a last bottom a composite insole having a flat section next the last terminating short of its tip and a ribbed section severed approximately at the tip line, placing a metal box toe on the toe of the last while the severed portion of the ribbed section is removed, restoring said ribbed portion to its place above the base of the box toe, and lasting an upper to the full length ribbed section thus presented.

5. The process of shoemaking including the steps of tacking to a last bottom a composite insole comprising a flat section next to the last terminating short of its tip and a superposed section divided approximately at the tip line, placing a metal box toe having a fiat base on the toe of the last with its base overlying the short insole section, covering the base of the box toe by the end of the divided insole section, and lasting an upper to the full length insole section thus presented.

6. A safety shoe including in its structure an insole comprising two superposed sections, a metal box toe having a base flange interleaved between the two sections, and spurs at opposite sides of said flange clenched in the outer of said insole sections.

HARRY G. McMURRAY. 

